Monday, October 5, 2009

My first week of being an intern at AUFMC, is just like our preceptorship day. We were not yet assigned in our permanent sections in the lab because Ma'am Noemi is on --- leave (sorry, im not allowed to say the word :)) hehe) So we waited until she came and give us our partner and our section. My partner in Phlebotomy section is non other than--Shane! Cant believe that she would be my lab partner for 6months.

At first we were both nervous in extracting blood from patients, but of course we dont have a choice, we cannot endorse every extraction to our staff and the fact that we are there to learn. And so now, on my third week in that section, I'm well adjusted with the works there. We also join our staff in warding, we usually have 5AM, 6AM, 10AM, 8PM, and 12MN hours of warding.

Night duties are the "magastos" duty that we have. Because we usually eat at least 4x from 1PM-8AM of duty. We are lucky if we have 4hrs of sleep, from my last duty I only have an hour for nap time. And always expect that you have loads of specimen in the morning specially when its weekdays. It's not toxic in the lab during weekends.

The staff there are good, we have junior and senior staff. Most of the staff there are former students in AUF, so we share common stories during dull time.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

" Do you agree that drug testing should be done as a requirement for admission to schools? Why and why not?"

I agree that drug testing should be included as one of the tests to be accomplished by an incoming student when enrolling in a university or school.

Let's face it, not all freshmen are first timers in college, some are transferees from other schools. It's a another way of checking the background or personality of individuals.

Taking drugs like marijuana and cocaine which are substances of abuse is not something to be proud of. People using these (for me) are people who have problems and are not capable of handling them.

No one wants to be in a school with classmates who are drug users in the first place. And for parents, they don't want their children to be exposed in that kind of environment. They brought their children to school to learn good things and not to be influenced to the wrong direction.

And if you're the school owner, you don't want your school to be call "School of Addicts", it would be a greatly disgrace if you have students who are drug users just because they want to be happy. So I really agree of drug testing as a part of admission test for an incoming student.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

1. Other name for ELISA.2. True or false: The principle of ELISA is to detect an unknown sample using a specific antibody which is linked in an enzyme, which the antigen will react with, that will be measured directly.3-5. What are the reagentsused in ELISA?

6-8. Give at least three example of ELISA.

9. True or false: Elisa can also be used in measuring hormone?

10. True or false: Can ELISA be considered a confirmatory test?

CaSE AnaLysis

A 60 y.o. woman is experiencing backache, broken bones or fracture, decrease in height, and was diagnosed to have a mild osteoporosis 10years ago. Her doctor gave her already medicines and she started to recover from it. Unfortunately, due to insufficient money, she failed to complete her medications and begun to work as a laundry woman in a rich family. Because the family loved her, they sent her to a doctor and promised to support her entire medication.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay, as the name implies, it uses enzyme, antigen, and antibody reaction. It is also known as EIA, or Enzyme Immunoassay. It can measure antigen-antibody binding. You can use it in measuring hormones, enzymes etc.

Principle:Unknown antigen is attached in a cell surface, then you will add a specific antibody to which that antigen will react to (you now have antigen-antibody reaction)this antibody is linked to an enzyme. To have a measurement of the antigen-antibody reaction you need to add a substance which can cause the enzyme to produce a detectable signal, like an amplifier. (e.g. Fluorescense ELISA)

In relation to parathyroid hormone, ELISA can be used to measure the amount of PTH in our system. As mentioned in the intorduction, it can measure hormones. You can apply any of the severeal types of ELISA procedure. ELISA kit are now available in the market for easy use.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

They say writing is a passion. But for these bloggers, writing is not just their passion, and not just a hobby, but their own way of expressing themselves, their thoughts, and ideas. And now presenting The 10 Most Influential and Inspiring blogs:

Monday, June 29, 2009

1. An individual has 4-6 parathyroid glands.2. To secrete parathyroid hormone that regulates the calcium, magnesium and phosphate in our system.3.4. The chief and the oxyphil cells are the cells commonly found in the parathyroid gland5-7. The parathyroid regulates the secretion, excretion and absorption of calcium, phosphate and magnesium in our body.8-9. Hyperparathyroidism & hypoparathyroidism10. The parathyroid gland is located posteriorly in the surface of the thyroid gland.

CaSe AnaLySis

Case 1The probable condition of the old woman is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is characterized by having a fragile bone because the bone has loss its normal density. And people having osteoporosis have a high risk of bone fracture. Common symptoms of osteoporosis are fractured bones (can be in spine and in hips) and lower backaches.

Osteoporosis is routinely diagnosed by x-ray. X-ray reveals that a bone having an osteoporosis is much thinner and lighter compared to normal bones, but the disadvantage of x-ray is that it cannot detect early stages of osteoporosis. So, for better diagnosis the National Osteoporosis foundation and the other major medical organization recommend- DUAL ENERGY X-RAY ABSORPTION SCAN (DXA, formerly known as DEXA).

It only uses small amounts of radiation and it measures bone density in the hip and in the spine and compares it to the average bone density of an adult of the same sex and race. It is measured using a standard deviation.

Factors that have a high risk of having osteoporosis are:

females

thin and small body frames

personal history of fracture as an adult

family history of oasteoporosis

diet low in calcium

cigarette smoking

poor nutrition

no exercise

Case 2

Hyperparathyroidism.

As the name implies, hyperparathyroidism, is an excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone by parathyroid gland.

The common symptoms of hyperparathyroidism are:

you feel nervous, moody, weak or tired

have hand tremors

sweat a lot

loss weight

Too much parathyroid hormone can cause complications. Some of its underlying conditions are:

parathyroid adenoma

parathyroid hyperplasia

parathyroid cancer

kidney problems(kidney failure)

familial endocrine neoplasia type 1

As said in the case, Angelo, have developed underlying complications. He developed kidney problems, caused by his hyperparathyroidism.

The usual scenario of hyperparathyroidism is, the balanced is disrupted. The blood calcium levels increase (hypercalemia), which may indicate that there is problem in the px parathyroid gland.

The common cause of it is family history with the said disease. Common ways to diagnose is by measuring PTH in the blood sample of the patient. And because there is too much calcium in the system, bone density can be checked too.

The simplified solution for this is the removal of the enlarged parathyroid gland, even if your parathyroid gland has been removed, it can regenerate again to produce a new parathyroid gland.

Friday, June 19, 2009

1. What is the average number of parathyroid gland/s an individual must have?2. What is the major role of parathyroid gland?3-4. What are the cells that are usually found in the parathyroid gland?5-7. Name the 3 elements which are regulated by this gland?8-9. Name at least two disorder associated with the parathyroid gland.10. Where are the parathyroid gland located?

CASE ANALYSIS 1

A 62 y.o. lady went to a doctor and complained of backaches and loss of height. In addition to her complains, she also experience the following: deformity of her spine, and brittle bones.

What could be the possible reason/s for the above mentioned symptoms?What could be the test that can be ordered by the doctor to diagnose her condition?Enumerate and discuss briefly other diagnostic test to confirm the initial diagnosis.

CASE ANALYSIS 2

A man named Angelo have observed changes to his physical health. he noticed that he easily get tired after doing small tasks in his office. His co-workers observed too that he usually had mood swings.He had his monthly check up and the laboratory findings revealed:-blood calcium level increase-urinalysis reveals stone from his kidney-increase level of PTH

What could be the probable condition of Angelo?Give some underlying conditions and complications regarding his condition.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

The Parathyroid gland is located posteriorly in the surface of the thyroid gland. Usually, an individual has four to six of it, 8 being the greatest number.

Its main cells are:

a) parathyroid chief cell

b) oxyphil cell

These cells are spread through out the parathyroid gland. They are packed closely to the capillaries, which differentiates this gland from the thyroid gland.

The major role of parathyroid gland is to secrete parathyroid hormone. This hormone is the major regulator of calcium, phosphate and magnesium in the blood.

It increases the blood’s calcium and phosphate by bone resorption. As the values of calcium and magnesium increase, the PTH acts in the kidney by excreting the excess amount of Ca2+, and Mg2+ in the urine.

This process also applies to the values of HPO42-, it also decreases its concentration in the blood through excretion in the urine.

Another role of PTH is to secrete calcitriol, which is the active form of Vit. D. It is also known as 1, 25-dihydroxy vitamin D.

The role of calcitriol is to increase the absorption of calcium, magnesium and phosphate in the gastrointestinal tract.